Abstract
The northeastern Atlantic coast of Tierra del Fuego is located in the extra-Andean lowlands of the island. This coast experiences a macrotidal regime, moderate energy waves and intense westerly winds. Extensive beaches and other littoral deposits are composed of gravel and coarse sand. This area has been free of ice since 1.8 Ma B.P. Glacigenic deposits were re-worked by littoral processes that formed beaches during sea level highstands of the Pleistocene. Península El Páramo (El Páramo spit) is a 20 km-long gravel spit barrier that closes partially the San Sebastián Bay. It has formed during the last 6,000 years. The growth of the spit has taken place under limited sediment supply. Its elongation is the result of erosion and sediment recycling, resulting in a landward retreat.
The Atlantic beach is composed of gravel and coarse sand and exhibits a reflective morphodynamics. Regularly spaced washover channels develop on the crests of the Atlantic beach of El Páramo spit. These channels are active under storm waves or swell during spring tides. The washover channels of the Atlantic beach of El Páramo spit were formed as the result of subharmonic edge waves generated by incident waves with periods of 1 l to 17 s. The modal spacing (90 m) can be related to subharmonic edge waves generated by incident waves with periods of 15 s. The waves in the bay rework the sediments of the washover fans at the inner side of the spit, building a bayside beach ridge and plugging the backbarrier mouth of the washover channels. This process helps preserve the spit crest.
A fossil gravel beach ridge at El Páramo spit shows regular and periodic spaced washover channels. These are attributed to a single episodic event of high-energy incident waves with a period of 6 s. Such waves are generated within San Sebastián Bay by extreme south-westerly winds, during maximum high tide. Although resonance or standing waves could also be generated by a strong earthquake, or by a tsunami wave entering the bay.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Araya-Vergara JF (2001) Formas deposicionales submarinas en el perfil longitudinal del estrecho de Magallanes, Chile. Cienc Tecnológicas Mar 24:7–21
Bowen AJ, Inman DL (1969) Rip currents, 2. Laboratory and field observations. J Geophys Res 74:5479–5490
Bujalesky G (1990) Morfología y Dinámica de la Sedimentación Costera en la Península El Páramo, Bahía San Sebastián, Isla Grande de la Tierra del Fuego. PhD thesis, Universidad Nacional de La Pata, 188 pp
Bujalesky G (1997) Patrón espacial y dinámica de canales de sobrelavado de la costa atlántica septentrional de Tierra del Fuego. Rev Asoc Geol Argentina 52(3):257–274
Bujalesky G, González Bonorino G (1991) Gravel spit stabilized by unusual (?) high-energy wave climate in bay side, Tierra del Fuego, southernmost Argentina. In: Kraus N, Gingerich K, Kriebel D (eds) Coastal sediments ‘91. Proceedings of a special conference on quantitative approaches to coastal processes, Seattle, Washington, vol 1. American Society of Civil Engineers, New York, pp 960–974
Bujalesky G, González Bonorino G, Abascal L (2013) Holocene coastal environments and processes in subantarctic/temperate cold Tierra del Fuego, Argentina-Chile
Carter RW, Orford JD (1984) Coarse clastic barrier beaches: a discussion of the distinctive dynamic and morphosedimentary characteristics. In: Greenwood B, Davis RA (eds) Hydrodynamics and sedimentation in wave dominated coastal environments. Mar Geol 60:377–389
Carter R, Orford JD (1991) The sedimentary organisation and behaviour of drift-aligned gravel barriers. In: Kraus NC, Gingerich KJ, Kriebel DL (eds) Coastal Sediments ‘91: proceedings of a special conference on quantitative approaches to coastal processes, Seattle, Washington, June 25–27, vol 1. American Society of Civil Engineers, New York, pp 934–948
Carter RW, Orford JD, Forbes DL, Taylor RB (1987) Gravel barriers, headlands, and lagoons: an evolutionary model, Proceedings Coastal Sediments ‘87, 1776–1792. American Society of Civil Engineers, New York
Carter RW, Forbes DL, Jennings SC, Orford JD, Taylor R, Shaw J (1989) Barrier lagoon coast evolution under differing relative sea-Level regimes: examples from Ireland and Nova Scotia. Mar Geol 88:221–242
Coastal Engineering Research Center (1992) Automated coastal engineering system. Waterways Experiment Station, Vicksburg
Compagnie de Recherches et d’Etudes Oceanographiques and Geomatter (1985) Campagne meteo-oceanographique, site Río Cullen/Hydra, periode de Fevrier 1984 a Fevrier 1985. Technical Report CREO/1249, Total Austral, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 399 pp
Coronato A, Meglioli A, Rabassa J, Ehlers J (2004) Glaciations in the Magellan Straits and Tierra del Fuego, Southernmost South America. In: Gibbard P (ed) Quaternary glaciations–extent and chronology, part III, Developments in Quaternary Science. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 45–48
Davis J (1986) Statistics and data analysis in geology, 2nd edn. Wiley, New York, 646 pp
Elliot AJ (1990) Wave refraction in shallow water. University College of North Wales, Unit for Coastal and Estuarine Studies, Report U90-7, Gwynedd, 27 pp. (Unpublished)
Forbes DL, Taylor RB (1987) Coarse-grained beach sedimentation under paraglacial conditions, Canadian Atlantic coast. In: Fitzgerald D, Rosen P (eds) Glaciated coasts. Academic, New York, pp 51–86
Guza RT, Davis RE (1974) Excitation of edge waves by waves incident on a beach. J Geophys Res 79:1285–1291
Guza RT, Inman DL (1975) Beach cusps and edge waves. J Geophys Res 80:2997–3012
Guza RT, Bowen AJ (1977) Resonant interactions for waves breaking on a beach. In: Proceedings of the 15th coastal engineering conference, pp 560–579
Huntley DA, Bowen AJ (1979) Beach cusps and edge waves. In: Proceedings of the 16th coastal engineering conference, pp 1378–1393
Imcos Marine Limited (1978) Meteorological and oceanographic study: offshore Tierra del Fuego. Technical Report 78/111, Total Austral, Buenos Aires, 17 pp, 4 app
Lodolo E, Menichetti M, Bartole R, Ben-Avraham Z, Tassone A, Lippai H (2003) Magallanes-Fagnano continental transform fault (Tierra del Fuego, southernmost South America). Tectonics 22(6):1076. doi:10.1029/2003TC001500
McCulloch RD, Bentley MJ, Purves RS, Hulton NRJ, Sugden DE, Clapperton CM (2000) Climatic inferences from glacial and palaeoecological evidence at the last glacial termination, southern South America. J Quat Sci 15:409–417
Orford JD, Carter RW (1982) Crestal overtop and washover sedimentation on a fringing sandy gravel barrier coast, Carnsore Point, southeast Ireland. J Sediment Petrol 52:265–278
Orford JD, Carter RW (1984) Mechanisms to account for the longshore spacing of overwash throats on a coarse clastic barrier in southeast Ireland. Mar Geol 56:207–226
Servicio de Hidrografía Naval (1981) Derrotero Argentino. Parte III: Archipiélago Fueguino e Islas Malvinas. Armada Argentina, Publicación H. 203, 304 pp
Servicio de Hidrografía Naval (2011) Tablas de marea para el año 2011. Puertos de la República Argentina y puertos principales de Brasil, Uruguay y Chile. Armada Argentina, Publicación H 610, 494 pp
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank the great number of colleagues and friends that shared field and laboratory work with me. CONICET (PIP 4283, PICTR 2002-67, PIP 05/06-6200, PIP 09/11 0533, PIP 12-14 0395) provided the financial support for the Coastal Geology Research of Tierra del Fuego.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bujalesky, G.G., Gonzalez Bonorino, G. (2015). El Paramo Transgressive Gravel Spit, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. In: Randazzo, G., Jackson, D., Cooper, J. (eds) Sand and Gravel Spits. Coastal Research Library, vol 12. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-13716-2_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-13716-2_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-13715-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-13716-2
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)